- - - Golden Sky Releases Financial Results - - -

Golden Sky DBS reported Monday that total revenue for the first half of this year was $60. 4 million, up 95 percent from the same period last year.

Golden Sky's net loss increased to $30.1 million during this year's second quarter, as compared to $14.3 million during the same period last year. The company's pre-SAC cash flow, which represents earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, non-cash charges, corporate overhead and subscriber acquisition costs, increased $1.9 million from $4.3 million in the second quarter of 1998 to $6.2 million for the second quarter of 1999.

Golden Sky is one of the largest independent providers of DirecTV in territories operated by the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative. The company currently serves roughly 312,200 subscribers.

- - - EchoStar V Shipped to Cape Canaveral - - -

EchoStar V, EchoStar's new high-power direct broadcast satellite, has arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida for next month's launch.

The satellite is scheduled to go up on a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIAS rocket on September 10, pending check-out tests, fueling, final integration of the satellite to the launch vehicle and final flight certification from Lockheed Martin. The Atlas IIAS booster and the Centaur upper stage portions of the rocket arrived in Cape Canaveral from Lockheed Martin's Denver facility on July 30.

EchoStar V will be located at 110 degrees West Longitude and will enable the company, along with its current satellite capacity, to offer its DISH Network DBS subscribers up to 500 digital video and audio channels.

To date EchoStar has launched four high-power direct-broadcast satellites that offer 350 channels to the 2.7 million DISH Network subscribers.

- - - Sky Passes Subscription Milestone - - -

Sky, the Latin American satellite television provider, reported Monday that the number of subscribers for its DBS service surpassed 750,000 during the second quarter.

Sky is the result of a strategic alliance among Organizacoes Globo, Grupo Televisa, The News Corp. Limited and Liberty Media International.

The company, which currently operates in Brazil Mexico, Chile and Columbia, reported that its subscriber base increased 8 percent from the same period last year.

Despite adverse economic conditions, NetSat, Sky's Brazilian platform recorded 5 percent subscriber growth during the second quarter. The company said this "less aggressive" growth was partially the result of a 15 percent hike in the price of its programming in order to restore subscriber revenues after a currency devaluation earlier this year.

Innova, Sky's platform in Mexico, increased its subscriber base 12 percent from last year. The company's combined platform in Columbia and Chile increased by 18 percent.

- - - TECHNOLOGY: - - -

• Thomson Ships New HDTV Sets -
  Thomson Consumer Electronics, the Indianapolis-based manufacturer and marketer of RCA, PROSCAN, and GE-brand home entertainment products, began shipping its new digital HDTV sets, which are capable of receiving both over-the-air and satellite delivered television signals, to retailers in New York, California and Indiana last week. Thomson manufacturers antennas and receivers for DirecTV. The company said that although it recommends the 24-inch satellite dish for DirecTV service, this new product is capable of receiving full HDTV reception with nothing more than an indoor or rooftop antenna, depending on the strength of the signal. The suggested retail price is around $8000.

• ORBIMAGE Imagery Available on TerraServer.com -
  Orbital Imaging Corporation, a division of Orbital Sciences Corporation, has signed an exclusive agreement with Aerial Images of Raleigh, North Carolina to provide ORBIMAGE products on a web site located at www.TerraServer.com. Current imagery from ORBIMAGE's OrbView Cities data set and its OrbView-2 satellite, as well as future pictures from the OrbView-3 and -4 satellites, will be available for purchase on the web.

• Vignette To Enhance DirecTV Web Site -
  Vignette Solutions has announced that DirecTV selected the company's StoryServer 4 software to enhance and personalize its web site. Vignette reports that its software will enable visitors to the DirecTV site to customize online features, including information about movies, sports and music programming.

• ISBC Plans Space Industry Software Summit -
  The International Space Business Council (ISBC) will hold a fall summit entitled Software Solutions for the Space Industry on November 15, 1999 at the Hyatt Hotel in Bethesda, Maryland. The summit will address software solutions for planning, monitoring and controlling satellites and launch vehicles; operating ground stations; controlling the flow of data; and manipulating data for end-users. For more information contact gaskamp@spacebusiness.com.

• SkyCache Opens West Coast Office -
  SkyCache, a global overlay network for satellite broadcast of Internet content and streaming media, opened its West Coast office in Redwood City, California last week. The office will serve as a base for the company's business development and sales operations in the western United States.